Sun's Front Office Draft Strategy(?) with the 2018 #1 Pick

[Sunstroke]

An article by AZ. SPORTS author Dan Bickley asks the questions of the Sun's front office steps in preparing for their first number 1 pick in the NBA Draft. Interesting read and if the Ryan Mcdonough quotes are true,
it's definitley an indictment on the ineptness of a meddling owner.

Hey, I'll be the first to admit I was wrong believing Ayton was the right choice yet I do think he will be a very good player in the "Association.' Doncic will be an NBA HOF'er.

Hope I haven't broken any copyright forum rules here.

https://arizonasports.com/story/236...s-chaos-ending-in-drafting-ayton-over-doncic/

 

[Chaplin]

Again, passing on Luka was a mistake, but not a collossal mistake because we got Ayton. And there is a good chance that Ayton will get a lot better.

Ryan McDonough was an absolute failure as a GM. He is going to use this to make it seem like he wasn't. Hindsight is 20/20, and if you want to get the real story, I am 100% sure you don't want it from Ryan McDonough. The guy is a loser, plain and simple and he wants and needs to keep what little reputation he has. Screw that guy.

 

[Yuma]

Again, how can you not take the Suns history in account with this pick. Historically we have always had great PGs and have always been looking for the one franchise big man to take us over the top. We never had our Wilt, missed out on Kareem Abdul Jabbar, David Robinson, etc. How could you not take the Ayton? Everyone says now that Doncic was the pick. However few had ven sen him play. It was not a sure thing his game would translate to the NBA. I was a weird person who wanted BOTH guys! My take was trade what you had to to get both picks. No way Dallas would have done that! LMAO. I knew Doncic would be good. I did not expect this good this soon. Ayton will set all our Franchise big man records. That's not saying a whole lot, but I expect we will get our money's worth with him!

 

[Sunstroke]

Hmmm... if the Sun's had drafted Doncic we're probably watching them this week in a best of seven playoff series.
Hey, again, I was happy with the Ayton selection, but I'm not an NBA executive in charge of scouting or player development.
Just sayin...

 

[Yuma]

From Dan Bickley:

"Still, it’s nearly impossible to watch Doncic dominate against the NBA’s best defenders and not wonder what could’ve been. He and Booker would’ve formed the best backcourt in the NBA. Judging by the Mavericks’ success, the Suns would’ve been instant contenders in the Western Conference."

That's what I thought at the time, before the draft. But then you still need a big man! You draft a big man, you miss out on this back court. In the end, I figured it would have been easier to find a PG to play next to Booker. Boy was I worng on that!

 

[JerkFace]

I still find this whole thing to be misguided. We might as well talk about how we should of draft Giannis instead of Len. There isn’t a GM out there who would of drafted Luka onto the Suns roster over Ayton. In hindsight we 100% should of drafted Luka, but at the time Ayton was the clear choice. The draft is sometimes a crap shoot, and in this case, we got the crap (I obviously don’t think that Ayton is crap, that sentence was just really clever... ha).

 

[Sunstroke]

"Big Man" #5 is obsolete in today's NBA. C'mon, its three point shooting, slashing, athletic, yet, big forwards and
solid point play. JMO.

 

[Chaplin]

Hindsight is 20/20 and it’s pathetic to continually harp on this. Yes we should have picked Doncic. Now what? What now? Do you just stop watching? Stop supporting Ayton? What is the goal here other than some morbid fascination to continue to whine about the pick?

 

[Sunstroke]

Hindsight is 20/20 and it’s pathetic to continually harp on this. Yes we should have picked Doncic. Now what? What now? Do you just stop watching? Stop supporting Ayton? What is the goal here other than some morbid fascination to continue to whine about the pick?

Chap.. I'm not whining about the pick. See my my prefaces, "I wanted Ayton too." I've just posted an AZ Journalist and radio talk show host's local view as he delved
into what transpired between owner, GM at that time, and the assistant GM that was a recent hire by 'said' owner leading up to the draft.

It's an interesting article and food for thought for Suns's fans, imo.
It's more of a 'what might have been' If the Suns had drafted differently. Not an attack on DA.

 

[Finito]

Ayton is pretty damn good and I still take Ayton over anyone in that draft not named Luka.

yes we didn’t pick him, but hell at least we weren’t the team that drafted him then traded him!

ive said this before but Trea Young is flat out not good. He’s like if you let white chocolate Jason Williams shoot 25 times a game. He’s billed as some Steph Curry 3 point bomber but he can’t shoot 3s( shoots the same % as Rubio), he turns the ball over like crazy and is by the numbers the worst defender in the NBA.

 

[Chaplin]

Chap.. I'm not whining about the pick. See my my prefaces, "I wanted Ayton too." I've just posted an AZ Journalist and radio talk show host's local view as he delved
into what transpired between owner, GM at that time, and the assistant GM that was a recent hire by 'said' owner leading up to the draft.

It's an interesting article and food for thought for Suns's fans, imo.
It's more of a 'what might have been' If the Suns had drafted differently. Not an attack on DA.

I get that. I do. But it’s ancient history now and not worth getting worked up about. It sucks, sure, that Doncic is so good. But it’s now been over 2 years, and McD may not be able to let it go, but we should be able to. We should concentrate on finding everything possible to make Ayton a superstar.

 

[Sunstroke]

I get that. I do. But it’s ancient history now and not worth getting worked up about. It sucks, sure, that Doncic is so good. But it’s now been over 2 years, and McD may not be able to let it go, but we should be able to. We should concentrate on finding everything possible to make Ayton a superstar.

Can we agree to disagree? I thought this sports writers article was insightful AND curious as to why the Suns selected DA. Thats all my post was about.
I agreed with you and every other Sun's fan at the time, Ayton was the pick! I was as wrong as anyone. This post was about letting what might be an over-meddling
owner dictate the Suns long term future in a crucial situation in which the Suns owned the #1 pick.

This is interesting stuff and definitley has to have all Suns' fans thinking...Why is Sarver meddling in front office decisions?

 

[GatorAZ]

Ayton is pretty damn good and I still take Ayton over anyone in that draft not named Luka.

yes we didn’t pick him, but hell at least we weren’t the team that drafted him then traded him!

ive said this before but Trea Young is flat out not good. He’s like if you let white chocolate Jason Williams shoot 25 times a game. He’s billed as some Steph Curry 3 point bomber but he can’t shoot 3s( shoots the same % as Rubio), he turns the ball over like crazy and is by the numbers the worst defender in the NBA.

2nd year Trae was better than 2nd year Booker. You can’t write him because his team sucks.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I still find this whole thing to be misguided. We might as well talk about how we should of draft Giannis instead of Len. There isn’t a GM out there who would of drafted Luka onto the Suns roster over Ayton. In hindsight we 100% should of drafted Luka, but at the time Ayton was the clear choice. The draft is sometimes a crap shoot, and in this case, we got the crap (I obviously don’t think that Ayton is crap, that sentence was just really clever... ha).

I think that’s a false equivalence. If you read through the predraft discussions and debate there were clearly people that thought doncic was a legit contender for #1. The majority? No. But he wasn’t a total outlier the way giannis was. I recall the commentators being shocked at giannis’ selection. Big difference. And I was a pro Ayton guy (really wanted to find a way to nab both, but that was a pipe dream).

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I get that. I do. But it’s ancient history now and not worth getting worked up about. It sucks, sure, that Doncic is so good. But it’s now been over 2 years, and McD may not be able to let it go, but we should be able to. We should concentrate on finding everything possible to make Ayton a superstar.

We can’t find that. It exists in one place . . . Ayton’s heart . . . or it doesn’t. We’ll have to wait and see.

 

[BC867]

What I get out of Bickley's recap of events is that the problem,
more than WHAT happened, is WHY and HOW it happened. Just
as many of us observed as it unfolded.

That Robert Sarver, instead of hiring a strong General Manager
and Head Coach, and letting them do their jobs . . .

Sarver hired leaders with weak credentials whom he could
micro-manage and manipulate, and without any credentials
of his own to do so. His background was as a Tucson banker.

Sarver and his banking cronies fell into a BILLION DOLLAR
windfall (every team is now worth over $1,000,000,000.)
It seems obscene to even write that!

Sarver's success as an investor had nothing to do with
putting a competitive product on the court. Especially
since it gave him a chance to cater to his oversized ego.

I'm surprised he hasn't said, "The Suns are miraculously
going to win the championship.", while disregarding the
experts who are supposed to be calling the shots.

Yes, friends, he just might want to be called 'The Robert'.

At least, someone got to him to stop trying to make
himself the face of the Suns. And we finally have some
hope for the future, just to make it into the playoffs.
It's a small step but, after more than a decade, it's
about freaking time!

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

It's actually kind of sad that the only thing I wish could have happened other than picking Doncic is that we ended up with the 2nd pick and Doncic went first. Thus we wouldn't have even had the choice. Part of me actually was hoping to get the 2nd pick before the draft because the idea of getting that pick wrong would likely hurt very badly.

Ultimately I would have a much easier time rooting for Doncic if that was the case, but with how things went I find it very difficult to not hope for him to fail and that's coming from someone that was a fan of him before the draft.

 

[Carolinacacti]

Jesus I'm pissed at Josh, Chriss, Len and the other Goats the Suns have drafted. I'm fine with Ayton. He plays a different position then Donic or the White Boy Ha

 

[95pro]

It's actually kind of sad that the only thing I wish could have happened other than picking Doncic is that we ended up with the 2nd pick and Doncic went first. Thus we wouldn't have even had the choice. Part of me actually was hoping to get the 2nd pick before the draft because the idea of getting that pick wrong would likely hurt very badly.

Ultimately I would have a much easier time rooting for Doncic if that was the case, but with how things went I find it very difficult to not hope for him to fail and that's coming from someone that was a fan of him before the draft.

If that happened McD probably would have gotten that wrong too. The guy sucked as a GM, he'd probably have taken Bagley.

 

[Finito]

2nd year Trae was better than 2nd year Booker. You can’t write him because his team sucks.

100% disagree.

Booker is crazy efficient. Everything Young is touted as being he’s not good at. People talk about how great of a passer he is but he’s at like a 2-1 assist to turnover ratio. He’s super reckless with the ball. He will make a spectacular pass one minute and the next throw it into the 5th row and have you scratching your head.

he’s touted as this Steph Curry pull up from half court type bomber but he can’t shoot 3s. Nobody on here would say Rubio is a great shooter and they shoot the same percentage as each other.

And the numbers put him as the worst defender overall in the NBA. He’s a different level of bad. He doesn’t even make an attempt to try and hide the fact he’s not trying on defense.

there is perception and there’s reality.

 

[Chaplin]

If that happened McD probably would have gotten that wrong too. The guy sucked as a GM, he'd probably have taken Bagley.

He'd certainly never ever admit to that. But I 100% agree.

 

[Mainstreet]

If that happened McD probably would have gotten that wrong too. The guy sucked as a GM, he'd probably have taken Bagley.

I remember McDonough being enthralled with the outside shooting of Jaren Jackson Jr.

He might have been a candidate as well. I remember thinking if he wasn't locked into Ayton, he might have been the guy.

 

[Sunburn]

100% disagree.

Booker is crazy efficient. Everything Young is touted as being he’s not good at. People talk about how great of a passer he is but he’s at like a 2-1 assist to turnover ratio. He’s super reckless with the ball. He will make a spectacular pass one minute and the next throw it into the 5th row and have you scratching your head.

he’s touted as this Steph Curry pull up from half court type bomber but he can’t shoot 3s. Nobody on here would say Rubio is a great shooter and they shoot the same percentage as each other.

And the numbers put him as the worst defender overall in the NBA. He’s a different level of bad. He doesn’t even make an attempt to try and hide the fact he’s not trying on defense.

there is perception and there’s reality.

Rubio statistically shot better from 3 than Devin this year.

 

[Finito]

Rubio statistically shot better from 3 than Devin this year.

what does Devin Booker have to do with anything?

this is about Trae Young and how is perceived vs the reality of his game.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Gee this seems so familiar. Who could have put all this together back during that drafting process?